By Cesare Milanti / info@eurohoops.net
LAUSANNE (Switzerland) – Moments before witnessing Team USA’s return to success at the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup, Andreas Zagklis had a joint interview to touch on several topics.
In the first part of the interview with Eurohoops and other media, FIBA’s Secretary General shared the latest updates on the ongoing discussion among FIBA, EuroLeague, and NBA. Moreover, he also touched on the EuroLeague’s expansion and gave his thoughts on BC Dubai entering the competition.
In the second and ultimate part of the interview, he answered on teams moving from EuroLeague and EuroCup to the Basketball Champions League, while also speaking about the tournament in Lausanne.
We’ve seen EuroLeague and EuroCup clubs, such as ALBA Berlin, Joventut Badalona, and Gran Canaria, moving to the Basketball Champions League. How do you evaluate this? Could this be a tendency for the future?
“Clubs appreciate the service that they get from the BCL, and I believe it’s a top-class service. We have some of the best in the business working in the BCL. You see, every year. The Final Four is one of the highlights of club basketball at the world level. It has global appeal. It is a qualifier for the Intercontinental Cup. It gives a chance to play in Singapore and play for the world title. I think it’s a natural evolution based on how BCL is structured, based on the fact that BCL treats the national leagues as what they are, as qualifying through their rankings, the best teams internationally, and also taking into account the calendars and the request of those leagues. Don’t forget that ULEP and all essentially the domestic leagues are shareholders and with a voice, not only in the assembly, but also in the board of the BCL, equal to FIBA in terms of voice. It’s a natural evolution for the clubs that have therefore a project of giving credit, real importance to their national leagues, and wanting to have a high-level and rewarding international experience, that they joined the BCL. I cannot say anything more than that. Many people say it’s the FIBA BCL; I always say this is wrong. The BCL is the top competition for the national leagues and the federations, which have built together over the last years. And then, of course, we know that the top competition in Europe in terms of quality is the EuroLeague. There’s no doubt about that. To my understanding, what applies to other clubs also applies to clubs that joined this year with regardless of their name. The BCL is talking to everyone in Europe.”
At the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup, we’ve seen several surprising results, including Switzerland pulling the upset against France. How do you value the country’s growth among other small markets, increasing their level?
“I think if you look at the youth tournaments as well as the senior tournaments of the last decade, the definition of surprise at the FIBA basketball level has changed. For the simple reason that there is much more depth than in the past. So what you would consider a surprise, perhaps 15 years ago, and perhaps our prejudice towards the big countries is based on the basis of our experience of 15-20 years ago, is no longer a surprise in today’s basketball. Of course, Switzerland beating France in this tournament is a surprise, but Slovenia and New Zealand playing the Semi-Finals for the first time in their history is not a surprise, if you look at the work of Slovenia and New Zealand over the last years. I think the keywords here are development, investment by FIBA and its federation; the third keyword is growth. And with investment into development comes growth, and we’re pleased to see this on all continents. We saw how the game Slovenia-Argentina, a one-point game, determined to a large extent the fate of those two teams in the tournament. Therefore, I can say overall from what we saw on the court, we’re pleased. The level, the average performance, is clearly on an upward trajectory, and we again have some players who we know will be household names in a few years from now.”
Are there any plans in discussion for a potential expansion of the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup to more participating teams?
“We’re looking now at playing more in the regions outside Europe at the youth continental level. We are now in the design phase of giving more quality games to our teams in Africa. We started already this year with U16 every year in the sub-zones, as we call them. And we are now in the case of redesigning our competition model for youth in the Americas. Asia-Oceania is already playing quite a lot on there on the sub-regional level. We will increase the quantity within the regions with investments. And I believe towards the end of the decade, we will be in a position to look at potential expansion; perhaps a second division or something that would have to be always sustainable, because these tournaments require big investment by FIBA and its federations. We’re ready to make it as long as the benefits we get out of it are really proportionate to the investment. That is why at the sub-regional or regional level, the investment is smaller, the travel and the effort required, and we need to measure the expansion first there, where the cost is lower, and then we would not hesitate to do the job. At the world level, if needed. Sixteen teams are not a small number, of course, it’s a tournament of 16 teams, and they all play from the first day until the last day. We saw one more element on the court. When we have a U19, now we’re starting to create a tradition, almost that FIBA brings new and new technological or other innovations. I think what we saw with the Genius IQ technology that you can watch on YouTube on your phone, and we know most of the users are watching without sound on their phones, the fact that you can see the name of the player in action and some statistics, some data we’ve never seen before in FIBA competition, the shooting range, how far from the defender, all these elements. We’ve received very positive feedback. We had more than 6000 people voting online in the first game, “I would like to see more of that”. That’s an innovation that perhaps is not as attractive to the eye as the Glass Floor was two years ago. I have to acknowledge here and thank the Swiss Basketball Federation, because the conditions for the players here were excellent. We had the workshop in FIBA for the young generation to teach what the engine machine is behind the events. Overall, a very positive experience.”
PHOTO CREDIT: FIBA